Senator Mercer: At the end of the evening when we left the tie shop, Don had 15, 20 ties — I can’t recall, but there were a lot of ties — and Dennis bought a few bow ties. I was just so amazed; I didn’t buy anything. Number one, these guys were buying high-end ties, not like me. Although this tie today, for those of you who are tartan lovers, is a Cooper tartan. My mother’s maiden name was Cooper, and on any special occasion in this place I wear it in honour of my mother.

Anyway, that was Plett and Dawson shopping for ties. A couple of weeks later I asked Don, “What did your wife think of all the ties?” He said, “She didn’t say anything about the ties, but she did ask about the big charge on the Visa card.”

Anyway, thank you all again. I would like to thank my caucus colleagues, Margaret Dawn, Diane, Wanda, Pat, Jane, Dennis, Pierre, Brian, Amina, Clément, Peter, Marty and Sandra. I will miss our weekly chats and sometimes weekly debates.

Finally, some parting advice for all of you. Please remember that you are all politicians. That’s it. So many of you came here saying you never wanted to be one, but you’re all politicians. It could be a big “P” or could be a small “P,” but you’re all politicians and don’t forget it. That’s not a bad thing. The work of a senator is demanding and extremely satisfying, especially when we work together with like-minded colleagues in caucuses or groups, but especially with each other. I mentioned before the work of the committees when we travelled, and I already told you the story about Mockler campaigning in northern New Brunswick and Don Plett and me meeting in the bar.

In any event, build friendships. Go meet with people. This is the problem with the pandemic. We don’t have any social events these days when we get together. When they come back, go to these things. Meet your colleagues; make sure you meet someone on the other side or in a group you have no affiliation with. Guess what? You will build those relationships, and those relationships will make committees work better, make this place work better and will make the legislation better. That will serve Canadians better, and it will only happen if you do it together.